BD-Plus (BD+) Bluray Enhanced?

[admin]

After an avalanche of attacks by hackers of all stripes against HDCP, studios are developing a weapon to curtail the onslaught. Welcome to BD-Plus (BD+) technology. Leading the charge as expected is non other than Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. They hope to have this techno-weapon by this year's end. BD+ is designed as an extra layer of protection for high-def AACS system. Although AACS is considered an improvement over standard DVD protection, ripped copies of HD-DVD movies were available for download on BitTorrent in January, just months after the launches of these formats. Blu-ray Discs are also encoded with AACS, ripped Blu-ray movies have also appeared online.


Discuss "BD-Plus (BD+) Bluray Enhanced?" here. Read the article.

[j_garcia]

So this really means very little to the end user...basically just more copy protection. I wonder if this is why a number of BDs have been delayed? As long as it doesn't affect my ability to play the discs, it doesn't bother me.

[corey]

So this really means very little to the end user...basically just more copy protection. I wonder if this is why a number of BDs have been delayed? As long as it doesn't affect my ability to play the discs, it doesn't bother me.

I think it very much affects your playing of HD content. It's one more added complexity - something else to go wrong, something else to add cost to the players, something else to add cost to the media. Who pays the added costs - you, both in $$ & in added problems because your player is more complex. In addition, it costs you because it will further delay our transition from low def to high def.

Sony & the others need to study the business model of bottled water companies. We all have (almost) free water in our homes, yet they sell it for more $/gallon than gasoline.

[Clint DeBoer]

Well, folks, here's how it works:

1. They add security and DRM
2. Someone cracks it the day after it's released
3. They add some more DRM
4. Someone cracks it, but it takes them 2-4 weeks now and you have to crack each disc separately instead of running a single app that automatically cracks all discs put into the system...

It's useless measures that merely set the bar higher for our (not so) esteemed cracking community. It's like a game, but the end result is that since file downloading only requires ONE copy of the movie, it only takes a single person to break it - it's not like there'sd be more piracy if everyone cracked their own discs... And as most people are content with DVD quality at present, this is a bit of uselessness that we must content with for the moment until the HD formats fully go the way of the "niche" and are replaced by direct download services.

[emorphien]

They can keep trying and wasting their money, but the best people in this business aren't on the companies side, they're out there cracking this stupid software.

With the recent rumors I've heard about some some Sony discs not playing on older DVD players due to new copy protection, I'm beginning to wonder if a bigger instance of that will ever teach Sony something. They seem content to ignorantly continue to inconvenience their customers without having any impact on pirating.

[jinjuku]

And I resent being treated like one. My collection is fast approaching 400 titles, I gives them my monies, and I am treated like a crook.

I would love to at least have managed copy. I could rip all my dvd's to my server (like all my audio is) and put the DVD's away.

I know there are software products out there that allow one to do this, just not legally. This whole thing sucks.

If I had one wish from a genie, it would be for the entire world to not purchase content with DRM. Then it would change.

[BMXTRIX]

I think a lot of people really want the ability to back up their movies to their PCs. There is no reason to buy multiple copies of a movie if your intent is to be able to view it in the car, or throughout the home through PC distribution. Yet, it isn't allowed.

My big peeve is the lack of MMC which was supposed to be required on these formats from day one. Don't get me wrong, DVD does not legally allow this either, but at least the tools exist to allow the average person to do this really easily.

I will continue to buy on HD, but I will also rent on DVD so that the movies I own on HD can be put where I want them to be. MP3 and audio servers have almost become the norm... It really seems like the industry is just being naive by not embracing PCs and then finding excellent ways to work with them.

Anyone remember when Napster was free and had every song in the universe? Now it's all about iTunes and other pay-for-downlaod services. Yes, free (illegal) stuff is out there, but nothing exists today with that same Napster like reliability/availability.

[emorphien]

I think a lot of people really want the ability to back up their movies to their PCs. There is no reason to buy multiple copies of a movie if your intent is to be able to view it in the car, or throughout the home through PC distribution. Yet, it isn't allowed.

I believe it technically isn't allowed in many cases with CDs either, but those are much easier to deal with. Free software like EAC or CDEX (either with lame encoders) will ignore the copy protection and rip the CD however you like. I have copies on all my computers, my old and new MP3 player and I burn a copy off for my car. I'm fairly certain many CDs say no more than 2 or 3 copies but I have probably twice that.

How are they to stop me, and more importantly what really gives them the right to? Their own greed.

[j_garcia]

Yep, a server will become just another applicance like a fridge or dishwasher when you buy/build a house, as will a network trunk room. The days of media and rental stores will actually probably numbered going forward as a lot of stuff will move online. It IS another layer, but I'm not making copies of my movies for other uses generally. I don't find a need to back most of them up, and I don't watch 90% of my library on a regular basis.

[Clint DeBoer]

I am NOT trying to be political here, but this is also a lot like gun control - only in the sense that in order for it to be effective you have to assume that "criminals" are going to obey the law. Meanwhile, law-abiding citizens are forced to deal with additional regulations, rules and other inconveniences.

Case in point - who watches the mandatory piracy videos and FBI/Interpol warnings on DVDs? Law-abiding people who BOUGHT or legally rented the discs...

Now, who DOESN'T have to watch these stupid wastes of time? People who illegally download movies from the Internet - the supposed target of the warnings in the first place. They can cut that stuff right out in their copies.

You are not a customer to the movie or record industry - you are a potential criminal.